Slate Trucks/Behind the Scenes
Background Information The Railway Series The Slate Trucks were characters who appeared in the Railway Series and were created by Wilbert Awdry. Despite being sentient, they were never illustrated with faces in the original books. They first appear in the Railway Series book, The Little Old Engine, which was published in 1959. They last appear in Great Little Engines, published in 1985. File:SlateTrucksillustratedbyJohnTKenney.png|1958 Slate Trucks as illustrated by John T. Kenney (1959) File:SlateTrucksllustratedbyCliveSpong.png|1982 Slate Trucks as illustrated by Clive Spong (1985) In The Thomas Way DVD, the Mr. Perkins segment features a re-illustrated version of the story Trucks!. The trucks were illustrated with faces. File:SlateTrucksreillustratedbyLoraineMarshall.png|1958 Slate Trucks as re-illustrated by Loraine Marshall (2013) File:SlateTrucksillustratedbyLoraineMarshall.png|1958 Slate Trucks as illustrated by Loraine Marshall (2013) The Slate Trucks are based on 2-bar wagons featured on the Talyllyn Railway. File:SlateTrucksBasis.jpg|Slate Trucks' basis Television Series In 1995, the Slate Trucks were introduced in the fourth series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. They fit into the category of Troublesome Trucks. Their size is also significantly larger than their basis and Railway Series counterparts. The slate trucks have appeared in every series since the fourth, with the exception of the eighth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and nineteenth series. They have only appeared with faces in the fourth and fifth series. Following the show's transition to CGI, these trucks were reintroduced in 2011 along with four new designs of slate trucks. The original design of slate trucks were reintroduced with faces in 2017; however, they were scaled to standard gauge. The trucks are based on various wagons used on different narrow gauge railways in the United Kingdom. File:SlateTrucksBasis.jpg|Slate Trucks' basis File:SlateTrucksBasis2.png|Dinorwic Quarry wagons File:SlateTrucksBasis3.png|Great Western '2 foot' gauge slate wagon File:SlateWagonsBasis.png|Slate Wagons' basis Behind the Scenes O gauge models (Small scale) The Slate Truck models were scratch-built to run on O gauge gauge track to the Gauge 1 Scale Standard during production of the fourth series. The trucks used Slater's Hudson "Skip" 4 hole disc wagon wheels and Slater's coupling hooks and chains, although these hooks were cast in resin and used as well. The insides of the trucks are flat which suggests to have been a 1-part mold. The two ends, and the two sides, are identical. The resin coupling hooks proved to be fragile and broke easily. The chassis for the slate trucks were made from Cooper Craft O gauge "GWR Match Truck" (3016) and were given modifications with a portion of the middle cut out to shorten the length and a piece of styrene attached for stability. File:SlateTruckModelSpecifications1.jpg|Front of a slate truck File:SlateTruckModelSpecifications2.jpg|Side of a slate truck File:SlateTruckModelSpecifications3.jpg|Back of a slate truck A total of thirty different facial expressions were made for the Slate Trucks, although not all of them were shown on-screen. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mould . The Slate Trucks' faces would later be reused for the Tankers in the episode, Toad Stands By. File:Trucks40.png|Slate trucks with shocked facial expressions File:ToadStandsBy11.png|Tankers with faces reused from the slate trucks There were also trucks given a lowered buffer beam. Almost all the rolling stock's buffers/couplings sat much higher then the engines. The theory was that the piece of rolling stock with the lowered buffer beam would end up being placed behind the engine as to have the buffers match as well as ease coupling tension. As the engines did not have enough space, the receiver and batteries for the engine's eye mechanisms were disguised as a slate load. This sits significantly higher then the regular slate loads. File:SlateTrucksSmallScaleSeason4.png|A truck with a lowered bufferbeam and risen slate load File:SlateTrucksSmallScaleSeason5.png|Faceless trucks and a truck with a lowered bufferbeam A bunch of broken trucks were also made for the episode Trucks. These were essentially made from the same molds, but designed to break apart easily. Some debris was also made from the same molds. File:Trucks44.png File:Trucks45.png File:Trucks52.png Trucks88.jpg The small scale models were predominantly used in Series 4. They were also used in Series 5 for in between shots where they would interact with the gauge 1 scaled characters and sets. The trucks have also appeared via stock-footage in Series 7. They last appeared in the 2005 special, Calling All Engines. One of the slate trucks was sold at Vectis with Peter Sam's Series 4 small scale model . Four small scale trucks with their faces are in possession of Twitter user ThomasTankMerch. File:PeterSamVectis.jpg|Peter Sam and a slate truck at Vectis before it was sold File:SlateTruckWithFace.jpg|One of the Slate Trucks owned by ThomasTankMerch File:OGaugeSlateTruck2018.jpg|Another one of the Slate Trucks owned by ThomasTankMerch File:SlateTruckModels.jpg|A Series 5 large scale slate truck with one of it's series 4 small scale predecessor File:Slatetruckfaces.JPG|Some slate truck faces in 2019 File:SlatetruckTomsProps.jpg|A Series 4 slate truck owned by TomsProps O gauge models (Large scale) The Slate Trucks were upscaled in production of Series 5 to be compatible with the large scale narrow gauge models. These models were built to a larger scale than the gauge 1 engines and rolling stock and ran on O gauge track. A further batch was made for Series 6. They were close to 16mm scale, but slightly larger . These models were used almost exclusively throughout the sixth to twelfth series. As their previous counterparts, they were made from resin, right down to the axleboxes. The coupling hooks and wheels were sourced from standard gauge Tenmille ones. Trucks produced in Series 5 can be distinguished by their black bufferbeams, whereas the Series 6 have light grey ones. Both these variants have appeared throughout later series. File:MissingTrucks21.png|Slate trucks with black bufferbeams File:DunkinDuncan29.png|Slate trucks with light grey bufferbeams The face-masks were reused from the gauge 1 scale Troublesome Trucks. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mould. They were no longer depicted with faces following Series 6 . File:DuncanGetsSpooked73.png|A slate truck with a laughing face File:DuncanGetsSpooked27.jpg|Slate trucks with shocked expressions File:DuncanGetsSpooked9.png|A slate truck with an alternative laughing face File:Snow45.png|A slate truck with a different surprised expression. Snow56.png|Several slate trucks with surprised, shocked and annoyed expressions A set of broken trucks were in Series 5 and 6. These were essentially made from the same molds, but designed to break apart easily. The broken slate trucks were also occasionally seen scattered around as set dressing. File:DunkinDuncan10.png|Broken slate trucks File:DunkinDuncan45.png File:TheRefreshmentLady%27sTeaShop20.png In Make Someone Happy, one of the large scale bodies was used as a shipping crate for the carousel horses that Percy and Oliver were collecting from Cranky. File:MakeSomeoneHappy54.png A "lowered bufferbeam" variant slate truck was also made. It appears to be a Series 5 truck, but this conversion did not occur until Series 6. Two large scale trucks with their faces are in possession of Twitter user ThomasTankMerch. They own a Series 5 truck with a lowered bufferbeam, and a standard slate truck from Series 6. File:S5SlateTruckLowBufferbeam.jpg|A Series 5 (lowered bufferbeam) Slate Truck owned by ThomasTankMerch LargeScaleSlateTruck.jpg|A Series 6 Slate Truck owned by ThomasTankMerch File:SlateTruckModels.jpg |A Series 5 large scale slate truck with it's series 4 small scale predecessor File:LargeScaleNarrowGaugeRollingStock2018.jpg|Both of the slate trucks owned by ThomasTankMerch along with a van and a brake van Close-up models A larger scale model of the Slate Truck was built for production of the fourth series. These were required for scenes where the trucks had to interact with the close-up scale figures. The close-up scale models were usually not built as complete models. Unlike the O gauge counterparts, the slate truck's close-up model was painted light brown. Series 4 close-up model This model only appeared in the fourth series episode, Trucks. File:Trucks33.png File:Trucks41.png Series 6 close-up model A new close-up model was constructed in Series 6. This model had some minor differences to is series four predecessor. It had a different number of rivets on the metal edges, floorboard detail, was a much lighter color, and had perfectly square buffers rather than beveled-edged buffers. DunkinDuncan33.png DunkinDuncan40.png WharfandPeace59.png| The close-up Slate truck as it appears in Wharf and Peace CGI models In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. The narrow gauge slate trucks were created from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios in 2011 for production of Blue Mountain Mystery and Series 16. The models were "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software . The pre-existing designs from the Model-era were used as referencing. These were also recoloured in dark brown, cream and varying shades of grey liveries. File:RecoloredSlateTrucks.png|Different coloured slate trucks File:RecoloredSlateTrucks2.png Four new variations of slate trucks were also introduced. These wagons are based on ones used on the Talyllyn, Corris, the Welshpool and Llanfair and the Vale of Rheidol Railways. The Slate wagons are based on a metal bodied wagon featured at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum. None of these trucks are depicted with faces. Recolours of these wagons have also been seen. One of these slate trucks closely resembles a more accurate representation of the basis of the previous existing slate trucks. These have been featured in the Railway Series. File:SlateTrucksCGI2.png|A slate truck (Type 2) File:SlateTruckCGI.png|A Dinorwic Quarry wagon File:SlateTrucksCGI3.png|A Great Western '2 foot' gauge slate wagon File:SlateWagonsCGI.png|A slate Wagon In 2017, Jam Filled Toronto re-introduced slate trucks with faces for production of Journey Beyond Sodor. They were based on the previous large scale O gauge models and shared the faces with the tankers once more, two extra planks were added at one end to accommodate the face. However, these trucks were scaled and depicted as standard gauge rather than narrow gauge. File:JourneyBeyondSodor170.png|Slate Trucks (standard gauge) in Journey Beyond Sodor File:JourneyBeyondSodor181.png File:JourneyBeyondSodor33.png|Tankers with the same face design as the Slate Trucks Voice Actors * Chisato Nakajima * Yasuhiro Takato * Tomohisa Asō * Hisao Egawa * Ryōichi Tanaka References